On the day when Ambala City MLA Aseem Goel staged a symbolic protest outside the Haryana Vidhan Sabha against delay in paddy procurement in his segment, farmers at the New Grain Market on Hisar Road here faced a tough time to avail their gate passes.
Most of the farmers HT spoke to on Wednesday expressed satisfaction with the process, but complained about the trouble they faced while obtaining the gate pass.
They claimed they had to wait for three to four hours to get their ‘parchi’ and spend the entire day at the mandi to complete the procurement process.
“I entered the mandi around 10am and got my turn to unload the crop at 12.30pm. There was a huge rush as many farmers had come as early as 6am,” Raghubir Singh, a farmer from Khaspura village said, adding that the procurement process, however, had significantly improved.
Kulwant Singh from Chamaru village and Vipin Batra from Matehri village also shared similar complaints about the gate passes. An employee with Batra said, “Despite two entry gates at the mandi, the process to get the passes was too slow. We waited for four hours to get the passes for our seven trolleys.”
Market board secretary Asha Rani accepted that the distribution of gate passes was slow. However, she said, “There had been server issues previously, but there was no such problem today.”
{{/usCountry}}Market board secretary Asha Rani accepted that the distribution of gate passes was slow. However, she said, “There had been server issues previously, but there was no such problem today.”
{{/usCountry}}Will protest with Goel: Mullana MLA Varun
Reacting on Goel’s dharna in Chandigarh, Congress MLA from Ambala’s Mullana segment Varun Chaudhary said, “Goel is my neighbour and if he sits on a protest again, I won’t hesitate to join.”
“More importantly, he has accepted that farmers are anxious, but where are the ministers? This also shows that something is not right between the ally partners and we have also witnessed recently that MLAs from both sides are not happy with each other,” Varun added.
Bharatiya Kisan Union’s Ambala unit chief Malkit Singh termed Goel’s protest ‘a political stunt’ and said, “He had to sit in Chandigarh as farmers have banned the BJP-JJP leaders from entering their villages.”